VacationSelector
The twin towers of the cathedral over Plaza de Armas, Guadalajara
GuadalajaraThe twin towers of the cathedral over Plaza de Armas
The US Capitol, Washington DC
Washington DCThe US Capitol

Photos: Guadalajara by Ponchomx, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Washington DC by Guohua Song, Pexels License.

Guadalajara or Washington DC?

Our verdict in twelve categories, each scored against the same fixed benchmark cities, and the climate month by month, so you can choose for your trip.

Choose Guadalajara for

  • prices
  • nightlife
  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on Guadalajara’s own page.

Choose Washington DC for

  • getting around
  • culture and sights
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Washington DC’s own page.

Scoreboard

Twelve categories on one fixed scale from 0 to 100. The shaded stretch is the gap between the two.

Beaches & swimming. Guadalajara 5, Washington DC 12: Washington DC leads by 7 points.
Food & drink. Guadalajara 75, Washington DC 67: Guadalajara leads by 8 points.
Culture & sights. Guadalajara 62, Washington DC 84: Washington DC leads by 22 points.
Nightlife. Guadalajara 68, Washington DC 57: Guadalajara leads by 11 points.
Nature & outdoors. Guadalajara 55, Washington DC 64: Washington DC leads by 9 points.
Day trips. Guadalajara 66, Washington DC 73: Washington DC leads by 7 points.
Good for families. Guadalajara 55, Washington DC 73: Washington DC leads by 18 points.
Getting around. Guadalajara 40, Washington DC 72: Washington DC leads by 32 points.
Shopping & style. Guadalajara 60, Washington DC 52: Guadalajara leads by 8 points.
Affordability. Guadalajara 78, Washington DC 28: Guadalajara leads by 50 points.
Live music & performing arts. Guadalajara 60, Washington DC 67: Washington DC leads by 7 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Guadalajara 35, Washington DC 26: Guadalajara leads by 9 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Guadalajara and Washington DC.

Your match

Pick a travel style or drag the sliders, and both match scores follow your weighting.

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Guadalajara
55match

Wins on prices and nightlife with your weighting.

Washington DC
56match

Wins on getting around and culture and sights with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Guadalajara in July

25 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
205 mmrain in the month
No seasea
13 hdaylight a day

Washington DC in July

32 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
108 mmrain in the month
25 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
GuadalajaraWashington DC

Where the figures come from

Guadalajara has no weather station within reach, so its figures come from a gridded climate model rather than a measured record, and read a broad area rather than the city itself.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Guadalajara: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km. Washington DC: 1991-2020 normals, Washington National Airport (5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureGuadalajaraWashington DC
Official languageSpanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec Maya-
CurrencyMexican Peso (MXN)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB127 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6UTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number911911
Elevation1,536 m72 m
Main airportGuadalajara International Airport (GDL)17 km from centre70 non-stop destinationsRonald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA)5 km from centre105 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year9 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureGuadalajaraWashington DC
City population1,385,621689,545
People per km²9,5563,896
Museums within 10 km1798
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20
Swim season, months above 21 °C-3 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Guadalajara or Washington DC somewhere new.

Browse every destination

Sources

Structured data from Wikidata (CC0). Temperature and rainfall for destinations with no weather station are from the NASA POWER 2001-2020 climatology, derived from MERRA-2. Rainfall where no rain gauge is within 25 km is from the TerraClimate 1991-2020 climatology (Abatzoglou et al. 2018, Scientific Data), read at the city. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. Non-stop route lists from the "Airlines and destinations" tables on English Wikipedia airport articles, by Wikipedia contributors, reused under CC BY-SA 4.0. Currency from the ISO 4217 register maintained by SIX, cross-checked against country data from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). Price level from World Bank open data (PPP conversion factor for private consumption and official exchange rate), CC BY 4.0. Time zones from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0); clock offsets computed from the IANA time zone database. Weather data by Meteostat. Meteorological data provided by NOAA, DWD and others. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Daylight hours computed from each destination's latitude using the NOAA solar position algorithm.

Category scores are our editorial verdict under rubric v3, each placed against the same fixed benchmark cities; the climate figures are measured. How the scores are set. Snapshot generated 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.